Jordan Brown ‘not ruling out’ becoming World snooker champion

The 35-year-old famously lifted the Ray Reardon trophy back in 2021 - making it his only ranking event title to date.

However, with that success freshly on his mind and practicing every day with in-form Mark Allen in Antrim, the potter is bullish for the challenges ahead.

"I'm going to sound big-headed but I feel capable of winning multiple tournaments," he said. "At the same time, I'm a realist.

"Snooker is tough at the top level but I know what I'm capable of and I'm not ruling out being a World champion.

"I think being in the top 16 and winning multiple tournaments is a realistic objective.

"Since winning the Welsh Open, I've had more expectations from the public but none more so than myself.

"I go into tournaments to win it as there's no point turning up if you don't have that belief.

"It's tough winning matches let alone tournaments but I firmly believe you get out what you put in."

Brown had a spell as a professional in 2009-10 but returned after an eight-year stint on the amateur scene at the beginning of 2018 and hasn't looked back since.

The man nicknamed 'The Antrim Ferrari' remarked that whilst he is lucky to be a professional snooker player, he hopes there are more tournaments pencilled into the calendar to be able to provide for his family.

"I started playing snooker when I was five-years-old when my dad bought me a table for Christmas," he recalled. "It was put in the middle of my living room and I've loved the game ever since.

"It is a big step up to being a professional in 2009 but, at the same time, there weren't that many tournaments back then and it was the pre-Barry Hearn era.

"I carried on playing but off the table I wasn't doing things properly.

"I had a few off-the-table problems and I was partying too much.

"With the talent I had, I was chucking it down the drain and it was totally self-inflicted.

"I came to a point where I wanted to give snooker a proper go and ditch all the nights out.

"I am very privileged to live as a snooker player as it was my childhood dream.

"I don't take anything for granted.

"And when you're living out of a suitcase it can be difficult, especially when you have a young family and it's tough being away.

"Whenever I have a bad day I pinch myself and think 'would I rather be getting up at 5:30am going into a petrol station?’

"It can be stressful financially as we are all self-employed and we have to win matches to get pounds in the bank.

"There's far too many gaps in the calendar, which is mainly due to China and having to comply with the COVID restrictions out there.

"At the end of the day, we just want to play as much as possible.

"And I want as many opportunities as possible to provide for my family.

Brown practices with fellow Antrim native Allen on a daily basis and spoke of his admiration for 'The Pistol', who has won three ranking events so far this season.

"I'm very proud of Mark and what he's achieved," he continued. "He's done things right off the table and it's working for him.

"He's always been a phenomenal player but it's great to see it come to fruition now.

"He's winning tournaments regularly and he's such a down-to-earth, humble guy."

Brown returns to Wales for the first round of the tournament tomorrow against Julie Leclercq and fondly recalls lifting the title when he was the lowest-ranked player since 1993 to win a ranking event.

"I had five deciding frame matches in the tournament, so I didn't do it the easy way," he laughed. "Going into that tournament, I felt my game was coming together and I was full of confidence.

"I was down and out a few times against Alexander Ursenbacher and Mark King, so it felt like things were happening.

"I had a crazy final frame against Mark Selby and he missed the final black but, once I won that, I surpassed my best of reaching a semi-final and I let my arm go.

"The semi-final win against Stephen Maguire is the best I've ever played as I completely dominated from start to finish.

"I woke up that morning against Ronnie and asked myself 'can I win this match?' and I said 'of course I can'.

"What's the point of turning up if you don't believe you can win?

"There's very few people who believed I could win that day but I did.

"I showed a lot of bottle to win that match as he missed a blue in the final frame and I made a 74.

"I took a bit of inspiration when Ronnie said he would need to lose an arm and a leg to drop out of the top 50.

"I was angry by that comment and it gave me a little bit of motivation to prove him wrong.

"The only regret from that final is that I had no family or friends there due to the pandemic.

"So I celebrated with a bottle of champagne myself in the room."